2009 Stocking & Other Miscellaneous Info

[Kenster]

Now here’s Kenster’s take on all of it!
I know Muskyhunter, and I have fished with him. I know he is very passionate about this fishery. He is a good man, but he’s like all of us. Sometime he speaks too loudly from the heart. We all know he used to be Crappiehunter, and I know he still likes a crappie sandwich. I also understand Yellowbear likes crappie too!(from previous comments) Now I have never met or verbally talked to YB and he knows me from noone, but, one day I sent him a PM about a particular lake (secret to me) and this guy tells me he has no info about it! What does he do? He drove his vehicle out to the middle of nowhere ($$) then came back to tell me the lake was still chained up! I believe both you guys are from the heart and would actually enjoy BS’ing with each other (and me too!), not to mention hitting some of those 13 inch crappie I hit last year on a beaver hut in Potholes! I am now officially a Chapter 57 member so I will be seeing Muskyhunter on a more regular basis. And Yellowbear, when I head over to “that” lake I will send you a note and hope to meet up with you! Bottom line is fishin’ is fishin’ think what it’d be like with no rods!!!

Kenster

[kevinb]

Well from what I have heard the biologist think that the pike really made their way in within the last 10 years. I do agree with Kevin that they should not try to get rid of such a unique fishery! I have just been fishing it this year and have fallen in love with that river! I am headed up there today and tomorrow! I haven't found another body of water nearby where I can consistently pull out the numbers of quality bass that I catch up there. Who wouldn't love a place where they can catch 3-6lb bass all day long! Dozens of them! On top of that is an amazing pike fishery, the only in the state! (Long lake is not a pike fishery, its an every now and then one gets caught fishery) People can hate them all they want but they are WAY too much fun to fish for and even taste amazing! If WDFW did get some crazy idea to try killing them I will move to Idaho and fish them there where they embrace the fishery for what it is!

Those biologists are probably right on the money. I think they may have been there longer but fewer numbers....but thats my uneducated guess. Either way,the pike has a home in the Pend Oreille and I don't think they will ever be gotten rid of.
I hope anyway.....

[AdsBot [Google]]

I need some popcorn. Did YellowBear get voted off the island yet??

[kevinb]

I need some popcorn. Did YellowBear get voted off the island yet??

I havn't seen the previews yet

[YellowBear]

I was up on the Pend Orellie last Saturday and I caught some of the Northern Pike, neet fish.
I was using a Mepps Musky Killer and did pretty well for my first trip.
I did not catch any big ones as Pike go but for my first, they were all good ones.
I did notice a few things that brought a question to mind.
Should a guy use a single hook lure insted of a Treble?

[kevinb]

I was up on the Pend Orellie last Saturday and I caught some of the Northern Pike, neet fish.
I was using a Mepps Musky Killer and did pretty well for my first trip.
I did not catch any big ones as Pike go but for my first, they were all good ones.
I did notice a few things that brought a question to mind.
Should a guy use a single hook lure insted of a Treble?

Great question YB
This is only my guess, if I was picking up hammer handles or smaller,..I suppose a single hook would be safer for the fish.Unless I intended on making a meal of them.
Thanks for the tip. Its much appreciated

[Don Wittenberger]

Based on the latest information available to me, WDFW is still on track to have about 9,000 tiger muskie fingerlings for the next stocking, and all 3 western Washington lakes probably will receive stronger plantings this time around. The eastern Washington lakes have good populations and probably will get normal stockings next year. Earlier, WDFW talked about planting 2,000 fingerlings this fall and 7,000 in late spring, but it now appears there will be an early spring followed by a late spring stocking, which should improve survival a bit.

[kevinb]

Based on the latest information available to me, WDFW is still on track to have about 9,000 tiger muskie fingerlings for the next stocking, and all 3 western Washington lakes probably will receive stronger plantings this time around. The eastern Washington lakes have good populations and probably will get normal stockings next year. Earlier, WDFW talked about planting 2,000 fingerlings this fall and 7,000 in late spring, but it now appears there will be an early spring followed by a late spring stocking, which should improve survival a bit.

Great news:cheers:

Thank you Don

[ProAngler'sDaughter]

My intentions are not to stir up tension again, but thought I was give my unsolicited two cents: Muskies are NOT known for taking dead bait, but Pike are. Since here in WA we have a hybrid cross between the two, the pike side may "kick in" and go for the dead bait. From us Muskie anglers, trying to preserve the Tiger breed, dead bait is not an option. The use of dead bait (that would likely be swallowed) could kill the fish!! That's cool for the plentiful Pike, but not Muskie. Problem being if you're doing it at all...you're likely to hook a Muskie while fishing for a Pike. End of debate, in my mind.

Thanks for "listening".

PAD

[Don Wittenberger]

I think banning dead bait for tiger muskies is a reasonable precaution, even if there's no proof they eat dead bait. A fish taken on dead bait is very likely to be throat or gut hooked, and that's a dead fish. It doesn't make sense to take the risk of losing them that way. When considering what the fishing regulations should be, one of our objectives should be to minimize angler mortality as much as possible.

Chapter 57's board has already asked me to pursue this issue in the next major rulemaking cycle, and I plan to do so. The exact wording of the proposed regulation remains to be determined. Several different approaches are possible:

1. A rule stating only artificial lures may be used to fish for tiger muskies.
2. A rule banning use of dead bait in waters stocked with tiger muskies.
3. A rule prohibiting use of dead bait for tiger muskies.

Wording #3 would be difficult to enforce unless an angler was actually caught catching a tiger muskie on dead bait. Wording #2 would allow game wardens to cite an angler for merely using dead bait at a tiger muskie lake, but this rule may interfere with fishing for other species. Wording #1 is the simplest and most straightforward, and probably the easiest to get passed, but as in #3 an angler caught fishing with dead bait could argue he was fishing for some other species.

PAD, there is no overlap between pike and tiger muskie waters in Washington at this time. That is, we don't have pike in any of our tiger muskie lakes, and we don't have tiger muskies in any waters where pike are present. So, allowing dead bait for pike while prohibiting it for tiger muskies poses no practical problem. But the real question here is how WDFW should manage the pike fishery.

I'll get to that question in a moment, but first I'd like to say that I'd like anyone with any experience of fishing for tiger muskies with dead bait, whether here or in other states, to provide me with any information they have about whether dead bait is effective for tiger muskies. Please don't be shy about this. If you have fished for tigers with dead bait where it's legal to do so, then Washington's tiger muskie fishing community needs the information about whether it works, and I ask that community to avoid being judgmental of anglers who broke no laws. At this stage of the rulemaking process, what matters most is collecting accurate information. For this purpose, let's keep tiger muskies and true muskies separate; we have only tiger muskies in Washington, and whether dead bait works on true muskies is not relevant. Conceivably, tiger muskies and true muskies may behave differently in this respect.

Now, returning to the question of managing the pike fishery, there are some questions here that we as a community should think about:

1) First, do we as tiger muskie anglers want to get involved in pike fishery policies?
2) Second, if we do, how do we want WDFW to manage our state's pike fishery? What we're really talking about, of course, is the Pend O'Reilles River, because there aren't enough pike in Long Lake to worry about. There are several forms pike management could take, e.g. ...
3) Do we want the state to let anglers catch all the pike they want? or, if not,
4) Is a slot regulation appropriate, i.e. require release of small pike and trophy class pike, but allow harvest of medium sized pike? or,
5) Should WDFW manage pike as a trophy fishery? One way to do this would be with a regulation similar to the one in the tiger muskie fishery, that requires release of all but record-size fish. Or,
6) Should pike be strictly catch-and-release?

We have some time to discuss this issue among ourselves, as it will take several years for WDFW to conduct field studies of the pike resources, so we're probably 3 or 4 years away from any major WDFW rulemaking on the POR's pike fishery. However, we should be thinking about it and talking about it in the near future if we want to influence the direction WDFW goes on this species. Among the issues to be considered is whether an artificial-lures-only rule for the tiger muskie fishery should eventually be extended to include the pike fishery as well. A dead bait ban for tiger muskies is something we're going to seek in the near term, so a similar ban for pike would be added later, not enacted at the same time.

I don't have a good feel at this time for which way WDFW will go on POR's pike. WDFW doesn't want them to spread from the POR to other waters, but the risk of that is very low as they can't reproduce in the Columbia River system. The current staff of WDFW seems willing to manage POR's pike as a sport fishery, but there will be significant personnel changes in the warmwater program by the time this issue is addressed because of expected retirements. It's probable the pike issue will be addressed by different staff than those we've worked with on tiger muskie issues. It does appear to me that most of our angler community wants POR's pike managed as a trophy sport fishery.

[kevinb]

Thanks for the input Don,

I personally would like to see some form of management regarding northern pike in Washington State.Maybe not a complete sport
fishery.Slot limits would be great.I'm not going to pull food off anyone's table. As of now,their are no limits,sounds like a free for all.
I could bring this up at a board meeting but I don't expect a warm embrace.Not to attack anyone but I only know of a handful of
pike anglers in the chapter and tiger muskies keep us busy enough. I hope the State will get on board with this. I started my esox
career:-$ fishing pike and have a healthy respect for this fish.Its only been in recent times that I've began fishing muskies(a new
favorite of mine) Each year I make at least one or more pike trip(s),I spend a few thousand dollars between gas,food,lodging and
new lures. My money might not be that important but add in a few friends...we just bought a small town(haha)

My trips are always to Idaho and every few years up to Canada. Its only my opinion but as word gets out about the pike fishery
on the Pend Oreille,we can only expect the number of anglers to grow,thus,more harvesting of northern pike. More harvesting
leads to less trophy potential pike. So my money along with some friends will go out of state. (I'm rambling again...sorry)

Basically,Washington State manages this fishery and makes some money doing it.
Its not as if they could kill them off all together.The pike is here to stay,embrace it.

Don,if you hear anything further. Would you let us know or e-mail me.
Thank you again

[ProAngler'sDaughter]

Thanks for clarifying that Pike and Muskie don't co-exist here in WA. It's so commonplace in the midwest/Canada, that I made a wrong assumption. Appreciate the insight.

Lots to consider concerning getting laws passed. It appears that your option #1 regarding Muskie probably makes the most sense...but, as you said in any of the scenarios you offer, the angler could merely say that they were fishing for a different species. Even so, there needs to be some regulation in place to address the issue. Need to keep the dead bait away from our Tigers!! I'll ask around and see if I can gather any additional information about Tigers and the consumption of dead bait. Dad just said it's uncommon, but that it might occur on occasion since Tigers are half Pike.

I agree with a lot of what kevinb has to say about the Pike. Maybe slot limits are the way to go. Good to keep the dialogue open. Lots to think about.

Thanks for keeping us organized on all of this "stuff".

PAD

[Don Wittenberger]

I've been informed by WDFW that the fall planting at Mayfield and Merwin will happen this Wednesday. This will not be a scatter plant; the fingerlings will be released at the boat ramps, and it'll be up to the fingerlings to disperse themselves through the lakes. In each case, they will be put in the upper end of the lake, away from the dams. These fingerlings are about 7" and Merwin will get 700, most of them being released at Speelyai with some being put in at Cresap, and Mayfield will get 300, divided between Ike Kinswa and Mossyrock. The remaining 8,000 members of the Class of 2009 will be released next spring, including additional plants of larger fingerlings (12" to 14") at Mayfield and Merwin.